Micah Challenge Australia Blog

The Micah Challenge blog is a space for discussion and debate about the issues of global poverty, faith, advocacy and justice and the Millennium Development Goals. This blog aims to provoke thought and challenge you to learn more about the issues discussed. We welcome your comments.

Micah Challenge is a global campaign of Christians speaking out against poverty and injustice. Click here to visit the Micah Challenge website.

If there is one thing you read about this week it should be the crisis in and around Syria. Forget what you think you know. It’s time you heard the untold story. This is a story about the peaceful majority in Syria, not the violent minority. This is a story about Syrian people who have never touched a gun or weapon of any type. This is a story about mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and grandparents. Syria has become the most significant humanitarian crisis of our generation. There are almost ten million Syrians who have been displaced, including over two million refugees who have fled the country. In the modern era there has never been a time when over half a country has been forced from their homes. Just imagine, the entire population of Sydney and Melbourne being forced to flee their homes from violent conflict. Imagine those people wandering along bomb laden highways and across harsh deserts in search of safety for themselves and their families. It is difficult to fathom, but this is exactly what is happening in and around Syria. Syrians are… read more

On Saturday, the Government confirmed that it is cutting $625 million from the 2013-14 aid program, making the 2013-14 aid budget $107 million smaller than in 2012-13 – marking the first time aid has gone backwards since the year 2000. It also finally (after almost 5 months in office) confirmed which countries, regions and programs will be affected. In short: all of them. All regions of the world and all program areas (governance, infrastructure and rural development, disability, education, health, water, sanitation and hygiene, environmental sustainability) will be cut. Some deeply. Aid to Sub-Saharan Africa, where the world's poorest people are to be found, is being cut by almost half from a budgeted level of $224.9 million to just $133 million (vastly less than the $211.2 million that was invested there in 2012-13). Our contribution towards dealing with humanitarian and other emergencies as well as global refugee support has been cut by $75 million (from $339.6 million in the May budget to just $264.2 million). Cross regional and global… read more

Yesterday Mr Abbott, Mr Hockey and the Coalition announced a $4.5 billion cut to the foreign aid budget to fund roads in Australia. The response from the media and the public has been strong and swift. There are clearly many Australians who are committed to fighting poverty in all its forms. There are many who understand that we are dealing with the real lives of marginalised people, and not just the stroke of an accountant’s keyboard. This morning I read through more than 1200 emails that had already been sent through our site to Mr Abbott. The most striking thing for me as I read people’s comments is that this is now about more than the global poor (as if that isn’t enough). While the context is about foreign aid, it is now much bigger than that. We are now not only dealing with questions about our actions, but also with deeper questions about our identity. People are responding out of a deep disconnect between who we say we are as Australians (and aspire to be) and the current priorities of our nation. Clearly this has been driven in large… read more

On Saturday August 31, thousands of people from churches, schools and community groups in the Warringah electorate and beyond formed the giant message "Halve Global Poverty 2015" across Manly Beach for Tony Abbott and Australia's political leaders to take notice. Susy Lee is a member of Seaforth Baptist Church and was on the organising team for Warringah's Halve Poverty event; rallying local schools and coordinating the education and advocacy tent. She reflects on her journey in the lead up to the day; and the powerful voice of the younger participants. It’s hard living in a very ‘safe’ seat. It feels like my vote doesn’t count for much. We’ve lobbied our (somewhat famous) MP several times with no feedback, so when Micah Challenge asked us to do something as part of their nation-wide Finish the Race campaign, our little church decided we needed something big and attention-getting. This was an important moment in history – we’re in Tony Abbott’s electorate! So five of us starting… read more

Yesterday Mr Abbott, Mr Hockey and the Coalition announced a $4.5 billion cut to the foreign aid budget to fund roads in Australia. The response from the media and the public has been strong and… [more]

The Micah Challenge blog is a space for discussion and debate about the issues of global
poverty, faith and justice. The views represented in blog posts are those of the individual
blog contributors and may not represent the position of the Micah Challenge campaign.
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